Friday, March 20, 2009

Robert's Commentary on Zimm's Pull/Drop List

I started off adding this to Zimm's list and then when I started my rant, I decided this was probably a separate post.

Robert's Two Cents:
I've already cleaned up my pull list, so I don't really have a list, so I'm going to comment on Zimm's.
PULLS
  • Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps - I gave Geoff Johns and friends a chance. I followed as long as I could stand it and had to give it up. I tried to follow in trade, but they were coming out so erratically, that didn't really work.
  • Dark Reign - Sorry! Already suffering crossoveritis. I've already dropped the vast majority of my Marvel comics and I've bought over $100 worth of Marvel per month for years.
  • Justice Society - Who's writing JSA these days? I'm not that big of a fan of Geoff Johns work. He's talented as hell. I've just lost interest in super hero action books. I need something more. Like Umbrella Academy. I liked the first half of the previous run titled JSA.
DROPS
  • Most of the X-Men Titles - Sadly, I've already dropped these, except Warren Ellis' Astonishing X-Men. I've been buying the X-Men since I was 14 (somewhere in the 220's) and had read them long before that. I have the complete run going back to the first Dave Cockrum run on the book up through some time last year. T00 bad! I really used to love the X-Men.
  • JLA - Not really reading it, but I think it's still being written by Dwayne McDuffie. McDuffie's one of the greats who made the Justice League cartoon as wonderful as it was. I think the cartoon only got better when they took the focus away from the big three and would expect the same of his comics work. The only reason I'm not buying it is because I quit caring about the DC Universe somewhere in one of the recent Crisis crossovers. Which ever one led into 52. (Update: OK, I stand corrected, Zimm doesn't like it because it doesn't have Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.)
  • Iron Man and War Machine - Been dropped since before Civil War. I wasn't feeling the whole Warren Ellis/Extremis thing. Plus the book was coming out so irregularly. Iron Man, as a comic, barely keeps my attention most of the time, so I was lost until I found all the issues after Extremis and read the whole story.
  • Batman/Superman - Well, personally, in it's original form, while in continuity, I personally treated it kinda like All Star Superman. It was kinda its own thing. It was fun. Personally I dropped it shortly after Jeph Loeb left the book. Which is interesting in its own right. What most of the ongoing Superman titles are missing 90% of the time is fun.
  • Moon Knight - Don't go pinning that on me. You noticed something was wrong. I just pointed out the writer change. Too bad too! And according to this article, it's all Bernie Mac's fault (God rest his soul!). Texeira art on a Moon Knight book is a good thing.
Additional Commentary: Geoff Johns is a talented writer and does straight forward super hero action books like no one else. This is a good thing, but I feel I've already read the best he can do and if his name's on a book, I'll pass it by. I appreciate him getting the classic Legion of Super Heroes back into existence and will be checking out the Adventure Comics series.

My reasons for not being interested in Geoff Johns' books are exactly the reasons Zimm likes them. They're straight forward super hero action. It's kinda like the conversation we were having about the Watchmen the other day. Zimm doesn't really like it and I do. I'm not a raving crazy fanatic about it, but I like it. There's a lot to it. Zimm wants a story he can relax, read, and just go with the flow. I think he's more of a the "cigar is a cigar" reader and I'm typically looking for the meaning behind the cigar. I get it and he's right about that. I also [originally] suspect this is part of the reason he doesn't like the current JLA run, Dwayne McDuffie doesn't just write straight forward stuff. His stuff is much deeper.

So, now I'm a bit surprised in retrospect that he enjoyed Y the Last Man (or he was lying to not hurt my feelings, which I appreciate). BKV (or Brian K. Vaughnn) is anything but a straight forward writer. Which reminds me, Zimm, are you watching Lost? (Zimm is watching Lost and enjoying it.)

Part of the reason I will follow Geoff Johns' Legion work is his love of Silver Age comics is obvious. The classic LSH book from the 60s/70s was the first super hero stuff I bought on a regular basis. They were being rereleased in digest form in the early 80s and I was able to pick one up a month at the local grocery store. So I know he will treat the characters with respect just as he does with the JSA, GL, and Superman. Actually I think a world where Geoff Johns isn't writing at least one Superman book a month is a sad world to live in. Superman is one of the characters with whom (did I use whom correctly?) a Geoff Johns style writer should always be involved.

The next comic series I bought on a regular basis was GI Joe, written by Larry Hama. Larry Hama GI Joe in the 80s was one of the best written ongoing series around. One fo the things I think is wrong with the X-Men now is Marvel realized it was their meal ticket and they should be paying attention to what is being done with the book. This is also one of the reasons, almost everything we've seen out of the X-Office has been a retread of the 80s and early 90s, including Grant Morrison and Joss Whedon's runs. It's why I'm surprised Warren Ellis' run is happening. He's the last guy you'd expect Marvel Corporate to want writing an X-Men book.

Additional thought: I guess I can see where Y might be read as a straight cigar is a cigar story. Whereas something like Watchmen or Promethea, really probably can't.

BTW, Zimm, the "Little Witch" says Hi and thank you and Jamie for Winker (the cat you guys sent for her birthday).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I did like Y:The Last Man. Great book; however, I can't really get into Iron Fist.

Also - I do love stories with some meaning behind them, but there is a difference between trying to have/find meanings and the meaning just to exist.

Robert said...

Good feedback to get.

Have you tried Captain Britain yet?